People should NOT have to guess where the navigation is on your website
I went to www.crateandbarrel.com and typed in a search item. And as familiar as I am with websites, by mistake I clicked on Checkout instead of searching.
Retracing my steps, I realized that the tiny arrow pointing from the search field to Checkout was where I should have clicked and not, functioning on auto pilot, clicked where I expected the search link to be.
Then I went to www.bedbathandbeyond.com and did the same search. Here there was no vagueness as to what to click on to complete the search. The clickable button to the right of the search field said Search.
Such a simple task on any website, and so important to get right.
Part of effective website navigation depends on the expectations of website visitors and how much the visitors desire the information “promised” by the site. For example, if the only nav buttons are at the bottom of a page (and a visitor must scroll down to see these), then it is highly unlikely that many people will have the patience to search for these buttons.
This is why it is so important to consider your website navigation from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know, for example, that the little arrow pointing to Checkout is actually the link to do a search.
It may be difficult for you to put yourself in the perspective of a first-time visitor to your website. One solution is to ask friends or family members who have not been on your site before to carry out specific tasks that you give them. Ask these people for honest feedback to gauge which parts of your navigation are not as obvious as you may think.
As with everything else in social media marketing (and an effective website should be home base for your social media strategy), make it as easy as possible for people to say yes to you.
If you feel that your website could use a third-party perspective and you’d like to integrate a social media strategy with that website, check out our social media make-over package.
© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton school and is co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing.
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